Foreign Finds

Friday, February 27, 2009

This week there hasn't been too much time for coin roll hunting. In the evenings I've been working on our taxes. I also took time to take Henry with me to Super Cuts. There we both got haircuts. I went first and he went second. He was superb. I couldn't ask for better behavior. The hairdresser had plenty of time to get his haircut exactly right. I think he looks great, but Meg thinks it is a little short. Meg, herself, has been very busy. We decided to move Henry's first birthday party up a day because of the weather forecast. She's been busy making food and decorations for it. It's going to be a great time.

Yesterday I got one of my best teller saves, a 1957 silver certificate! It's a little beat up, of course, but it's the only one I've come across. I was really happy to get it.

I also searched some coin last night.

Nine halves, 360 quarters and 300 dimes turned up a 2009P DC quarter.

4,160 nickels yielded one Buffalo (1926), one War Time (1943P), three Canadians and a Philippine 25 Sentimos (1980). The Philippine coin is a new type for me. What a month for nickels! In February I found one Liberty, ten Buffalos (six with readable dates) and sixteen War Times!

300 pennies produced four Wheats (1944, 1953D, 1956D, 1958D) and one Canadian.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Last night I searched a whole bunch of quarters. I wasn't sure I felt like taking all of these at the bank, but it was worth my while. 10,120 of them turned up four silver Washingtons (1935, 1941, 1956, 1964D), three Bermuda 25¢, one Canadian and one Honduras 50 Centavos. The 1935 is a new one for me. It is now the oldest quarter I have found. The 1941 and 1956 quarters were also nice upgrades to the ones in my album and the Honduras coin is a new type and new country for me!

I also looked through 400 dimes and 80 nickels, but they only yielded one Canadian dime.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

Today I am finally back to normal, Henry's close and Meg is still not there yet. On Wednesday night I was really sick and it lingered until Friday or so. Henry's better than he was earlier in the week when he had some sort of virus, but he's still a bit crankier than normal and isn't eating the same. Meg's not feeling so hot. It's been one long winter. Meg and I can't remember a few days when everyone was feeling good.

I've been thinking a lot about all of Henry's developments. It's time I blogged about a few before I forget them:

1) Henry now says "Dadt" for me. It's now different than his word "dah" which he says when he's point at things. He also says "Momma" sometimes, although it is not as frequent as the other two words.

2) Henry points. A few weeks ago he was just gesturing to things with his hands, but now he points at things in the room all day long saying, "dah." His favorite things to point to are ceiling fans, light fixtures and things on the table he wants to eat.

3) Henry can identify the dogs in his book. If you ask him to point at them he can. He seems close to being able to identifying the wheels, birdies, cows and chickens too.

4) If you ask Henry what sound a cow makes, he says, "mooo." He makes a sound for dogs too, but it's tough to distinguish.

5) He knows the word "hug." When we say it he comes over and gives you one (it's more like a tackle, but it's lovely).

4,000 nickels yielded two Buffaloes (1923, 1926), seven War Times (3 x 1943P, 2 x 1944P, 1945P, 1945S) and seven Canadians. One box had all of the Buffaloes, War Times and a key in it (1949S). That's easily my best box of nickels. The 1923 Buffalo is very worn, but the 1926 is a pretty good one and was a slight upgrade to the one in my album (the date is very readable).

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

The dimes were a bit better. I searched 3,950 of them and found two silver Rosies (1954, 1963) and six Canadians.

I didn't do too great with the nickels I searched. 3,320 of them yielded eight Canadians and two US dimes.

The pennies made me feel much better. In 10,450 I found fifty-one Wheats, ninety Canadians, two US dimes and one Bermuda 1¢. That's a much better Wheat find rate than I've had in what seems like a while. Perhaps things are back on track with the pennies for me. The Wheats were:

Monday, February 16, 2009

On Saturday I finished reading a book I spent a few weeks with Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened Japan by Giles Milton. I was expecting more adventure based on a review of the book I had read and based on the title I thought the book would mostly concern Samurai William. I didn't get either. Milton's book is mainly about the story of the failed English attempt to establish a trading post in Japan. The trading post lasted for a time, but was never particularly successful. In between tales about this trading post and others in the region the book did tell the story William Adams. Adams somehow survived a trouble ridden journey to Japan across the Pacific. He gained the favor the Shogun and became his greatest adviser, even earning the title of Samurai. He was never able to return to England, but did do his best to help the English establish their factory. His story is said to have inspired James Clavell's Shogun. I liked Milton's writing style and he has written several other books whose subjects interest me, so I think I'll try to read his other works. I just hope those books are a bit less disjointed then this book. Maybe I'll reread Shogun or get the mini-series from Netflix too.

This weekend hasn't turned out exactly as Meg and I hoped it would. Things started out pretty well as we had a good time at first birthday party one Meg's friends was having for her daughter. Henry had a great time playing with his buddy Griffin who walks as he does, a bit like Frankenstein at times. They both enjoyed looking at the family cat, but didn't chase after it too much. I guess they're dog people! Like other parties we've been too recently we spent a good amount of time keeping Henry out of the appetizers. Considering Henry's 4½ year old cousin is still tough to restrain around appetizers I think this is our future. Someday Henry will get older and although he might still have a tough time resisting appetizers like me or his grandpa it won't be his parent's problem.

On Sunday things went sour. After church we took Henry's temperature and noticed he had another slight fever. His doctor recommended we take him to the ER. That's were we spent the rest of the day or at least that's what it seemed like. When your problem isn't serious they take forever to help you out, even to let you go once the doctor gives you the OK. Meg, Henry and I left the place after four hours, feeling tired, cranky and hungry.

Today we had planned on a family trip to the arboretum, but Henry's still a bit under the weather. Perhaps we'll visit his grandmother at her workplace?

3,000 pennies produced twenty-six Wheats, twenty-nine Canadians and three US dimes. Just in times for Valentine's Day I also found one penny with a small rose printed on the front of it. The Wheats were:

I had another strange, but good time with the nickels I searched. 2,000 nickels turned up two Canadians, three US dimes and one Bermuda 5¢. There was also two rolls that had sixty-nine AU (almost uncirculated) nickels that were between 1938 and 1941 (3 x 1938, 22 x 1939, 29 x 1940, 15 x 1941). Alas, there were no mint marks, but there were some upgrades to the nickels in my albums and I put the rest of them in my pre-1960, AU Jeffersons container. They have some value over face, but it is a bit difficult to assess. There's an auction on Ebay for a whole roll of 1940 AU nickels currently at $31 and another for a roll of 1940 AU/EF nickels at $6.

2,000 pennies produced just three Wheats (1953D, 1956D, 1957D), fourteen Canadians and one Euro 2¢ (Greece).

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

1,750 dimes yielded one silver Rosie (1953D), five Canadians, one UK 5 pence and one Ireland 5 pence (1993). The Irish coin is pretty cool. It is the second one I've found.

I had my best luck with the nickels. I searched just 960, but found two Buffaloes (1936, 1937), three War Times (3 x 1944P) and one Canadian (1 Ni). I'm not sure what's up with the nickels in 2009. They sure are making up for the quarters and pennies being a bit lacklustre. I've now found seven Buffaloes in February, four of which had dates! These last two are in pretty good condition. The War Time nickels are part of five 1944P's I've found in two days!

I also searched 5,700 pennies. In them were twenty-four Wheats, forty-four Canadians, three US dimes and one US nickel. The Wheats were:

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Last night while worrying about little Henry's mystery spot and fever (it went down fairly quickly) I did some coin roll hunting. It helped calm me a bit. I had a good find, but it didn't mean too much since I was concerned for him. In fact, I feel a bit dumb writing about coins right now.

1,600 quarters produced a proof quarter (1989S), a Canadian and one Mexican 1 Peso (1985). The proof quarter is the first one I've found in a roll and it's in great shape. It's bright rim stood out from the other quarters in the roll.

100 dimes didn't turn up anything, but I didn't get totally skunked in dimes as a teller saved me a 1956D silver Rosie.

Sunday, February 8, 2009

This weekend had many nice moments for us. On Saturday Henry and I went shopping for toys for his cousin's birthday (he's now two years old). We went to Target and Wal-mart. Each toy I considered I let Henry hold a bit. While in Wal-mart he squealed at a large stuff bear. I went over to it with him so he could see it closer and he ended up pulling on top of himself. I got some good pictures of it, however.

I also came across a good find in Wal-mart. On the floor I spotted a slip for returned recycables. On it was $1.45. It was for another store and it was from six days ago. I guess this Wal-mart doesn't sweep the floor too much. Henry I went to the other store and redeemed the slip.

That night my parents watched Henry and his two cousins at our house. Meg and I went out to celebrate her 30th birthday at a nearby restaurant. We were joined by ten friends. It was a good time.

Today we celebrated my nephew's second birthday. We had a good time there as well. Liam, my nephew, seemed to know it was party for him and was really cute with his cake. Henry and he even played a bit together.

On Saturday I searched some coin.

41 small dollars turned up four 2009D Sacajawea dollars. Those coins are my first 2009 coins. I don't like the new design too much, but it's good to have them.

8,000 half dollars produced four 90% silver half dollars (1937S, 1963D, 2 x 1964), nineteen 40% silver half dollars (5 x 1966, 5 x 1967, 6 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D, 1970S), two proof halves (1970S, 1976S) and three mint set halves (2002P, 2003D, 2006P). The 1937S is a new Walking Liberty half for me and a good one at that. Only about 2 million were made. The 1970S is only the second one I've found and was an upgrade to my other specimen.

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Yesterday morning I found out the bank that provides me with free coin counting is going to stop providing the service at the end of March. They told me it was just too expense to rent the machine. This is going to be a big setback, but I'll manage somehow and use other free coin counting machines at different banks. I've dealt with other such problems and moved on. To help ease the pain a teller gave me a silver dime (1964).

Last night I just searched about half the amount of coin I searched the night before.

1,120 quarters turned up just two Canadians and one Bermuda 25¢.

1,650 dimes produced three Canadians and one UK 5 pence.

My luck continued with nickels. 800 of them yielded one Buffalo (1935) and six Canadians (1 Ni). I was very surprised to turn up another Buffalo, especially one of the same date as the night before!

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Nope it's not the coins that are getting better, 2009 hasn't been too good, it's the family life. It seems like every week we have more fun with Henry and that hour or two I get with him every day is more rewarding. It is nice to think about all of us connecting even more in the near future.

I searched a lot of coin last night as I put off the snow shoveling until this morning (when the snow stopped).

2,800 quarters turned up four Canadians, one Bahamas 25¢, one South Korean 100 Won and two US nickels.

The dimes were better. 2,950 of them produced three silver Rosies (1960D, 1962D, 1963D), four Canadians and two Bermuda 10¢.

My luck this week with the nickels continued. I searched 2,600 nickels and in them I found three Buffaloes (1916, 1917, 1935), twelve Canadians (3 Ni), one Bermuda 5¢ and three US dimes. The two older Buffaloes were found in the same roll and were both very worn (Nic-A-Date). The 1935 Buffalo is in pretty good shape. I also found another key date Jefferson, the 1949S, the same key as the night before.

Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Last night I just searched some nickels. 4,000 nickels, two boxes, produced one Liberty (1912), three War Times (1942P, 1943P, 1945P), eight Canadians and one Norwegian 1 Krone. Unfortunately the Liberty nickel isn't a new one for me. I still liked finding it, however. This is the first time I've found a Norwegian Krone in rolls of nickels. It is worth about 14¢. I also found one key date Jefferson, the 1949S.

Monday, February 2, 2009

This weekend was a good one. I took off Friday so I could spend the day with Meg and Henry. In the morning we went out for breakfast and then in the afternoon we went to Gymboree to play. While there I got to see Henry take even more steps. It's getting less and less difficult to get him to walk. Less bribery is required. On Sunday we had his baptism. He did really well. The service was long, but he managed to make through almost all of it and wasn't bothered by the sprinkling of water over his head. It was a very special moment for Meg and I. I felt very proud when I paraded him down the aisle. Some parishners who usually go to the early service came to this one to see Henry baptised. We had everyone over afterwards for a light lunch.

On Saturday I searched some coin.

Fifty small dollars and 1,000 quarters didn't produce anything.

8,014 half dollars yielded two 90% silver halves (2 x 1964), twenty-four 40% silver halves (3 x 1966, 8 x 1967, 10 x 1968D, 2 x 1969D, 1976S), one proof (1972S) and two mint set halves (2004D, 2005P). The 1976S silver half (non proof) is the second one of these I've found so far. This one is tarnished on the obverse, but the reverse is fine.

Last weekend I also got a big batch of Russian coins from a friend who recently went there. Seems that Russia is wonderland for finding coins. He said nearly worthless coins were on the ground everywhere he looked.